Why are old GPU's so expensive?!?

[AnotherDumbNoob]

I was thinking about building my own gaming PC once i get my tax check.... Well now i'm having second thoughts.

I've read countless forums from not even a year ago trying to decide what GPU to buy, and people are talking about how cheap this and that is.. Such as AMD 7950 for $200!?!?!??! Using the link provided, it took me to Newegg damn thing is $429 right now!!!! What the hell happened?

To a total noob like myself, i am quickly starting to think building a gaming PC isnt as cheap as people say. A CPU and GPU good enough to handle games at MAX settings and a few mods already put you at $500-600.... No thanks.

 

[Beezy]

I was thinking about building my own gaming PC once i get my tax check.... Well now i'm having second thoughts.

I've read countless forums from not even a year ago trying to decide what GPU to buy, and people are talking about how cheap this and that is.. Such as AMD 7950 for $200!?!?!??! Using the link provided, it took me to Newegg damn thing is $429 right now!!!! What the hell happened?

To a total noob like myself, i am quickly starting to think building a gaming PC isn't as cheap as people say. A CPU and GPU good enough to handle games at MAX settings and a few mods already put you at $500-600.... No thanks.

You really don't need that powerful of a machine to run on max settings. I put roughly $600 into building my gaming rig, and any game I have played has run smoothly and on max settings [Including but not limited to; Skyrim, Starcraft II, WoW, SWTOR, Elder Scrolls Online, Thief (2014), and more].

Graphics Card: $154 Radeon HD 7850 (1GB 256-bit GDDR5) , which has been awesome. Everything is smooth in any game. I honestly think you can go even a little cheaper ($130-ish) and still have decent performance on max settings. I decided to go bigger and spend 190 on a 2Gb 256-bit GDDR5 Radeon something, to see if there is a difference. I notice a little better FPS, but overall it runs close to what I could before. My wife runs games on max with a $99 Radeon HD 7750 (128-bit GDDR5 1GB) on max settings by her preference, but you DO notice the performance difference. It does not meet expectations for me, but for her, it is good enough. It definitely has to be turned down for online gaming. I would not suggest that cheap of a card.

Motherboard: $45 A micro-ATX, instead of a normal ATX size. This can be considerably cheaper and still provide great performance.

Memory: $42 2x4GB DDR3 RAM running @ 1600. You might not even need more than 4GB, unless you do a lot of multitasking. Going up with speeds, though, can certainly help. Do not go more than 8GB, though. That is just overkill for games and very unnecessary.

CPU: $290 Intel Core i7-4770S @ 3.1 GHz. the price difference might be $30 or more from 3.1-3.4 GHz (or higher), and you probably won't even notice the difference. I always go with Intel, because my experience has always been good. I also do a LOT of multitasking, so I went for the i7, instead of the i5. I do not have an i5 machine, so I cannot compare performance, but it is much cheaper, and you might have all that you need, depending on your uses beyond gaming. I would make sure you get the quad-core, instead of the dual core, i5 if you chose to go that route. I have not had as good of experiences with AMD systems, so I put the money into this by personal preference. You might be able to get good max-performance settings with an AMD CPU for $100 bucks less, I just won't guarantee it from my own experience.

Power Supply: $37 Kingwin 650W. This is a lower-end PSU in comparing to brand-names like Corsair or Thermaltake, but I have been using it for over a year now with no hiccups whatsoever. I feel I have gotten my money's worth, even if it died out today. Most cheap to mid-grade graphics cards don't even require higher than 500W-550W.

Storage: $23 Refurbished 250GB Western Digital 7200 RPM 8MB cache SATA 6 GB/s (I already had a 1TB 5400 drive, so I got a smaller cheaper one for a little faster speeds). You can get 1TB with the 7200 RPM and 6 GB/s for around $60 on a good deal.

CD/DVD-Rom: $15 24x DVD-R 48x CD-R. Anything better is honestly pure convenience if you watch DVD's on your machine, as most games nowadays do not even require a disk to read as you play. It might just take 10 minutes to install a large game, instead of 7 minutes lol.

Case: I just used my old mid-tower case that was running a really old rig. I have, however, put between $40-$50 into my wife's machines and it has been running just fine for 3 years without falling apart. They do are not quite as sturdy, though, so just be gentle with the cheaper cases. I would suggest looking for steel over aluminum cases.

Cooling: The case already had sufficient air cooling, and I already had a liquid cooling system, so this may be more cost to you. I would especially consider liquid cooling for your CPU. I have a cheaper one for about $50 that keeps my CPU around 45-50 degrees F that I have been using for over 3 years now. Air fans are not that expensive.

Keep note that this was not a machine that I just bought everything at once. I took my time and waited for good deals on almost every component (CPU for 289 instead of 309, and 154 instead of 179, RAM 42 instead of 65, Motherboard 45 instead of 69, for examples). These prices do also include any mail-in rebates that came besides the instant discounts. They take forever, but can make a difference in the overall price when it comes down to it. You may find only $10-$30 difference in each component, but it adds up. I also keep my eye out for refurbished parts.

When looking at graphics cards, the GB size is important, but not as important as other specs like whether it runs at 256-bit or 128-bit. The biggest thing I look for is the memory type. Get GDDR5 and NOT DDR3. No matter how big of DDR3 memory a graphics card has that I have seen, it is pale in comparison to GDDR5 with half the memory. Also compare core clock, streaming processors, effective memory clock, etc. Newegg keeps a good detail on such things.

If you have more and are willing to spend it (using my machine components about), I would put more into the motherboard and get some faster RAM. Also, that 7950 you mentioned is going for $220 with a $20 rebate from Sapphire on Newegg. It has 3GB of 384-bit GDDR5 memory. That sounds insane to me, but could be an epic choice. If you got something like that, you could most certainly go with a lesser CPU.

You really don't need a $1,000 machine to run games on max with smooth performance. If you are considered an "enthusiast," which it sounds like not, you might notice a difference. You might notice a difference in super competitive online gameplay. For those who are heavy and casual gamers, but not the elite enthusiasts, you will honestly not notice much difference between a $650 rig and a $1200 one.

As mentioned by other posts, "max settings" can be a difference in opinion. You can have everything to the max, and have lower FPS but still looks good and smooth, or have everything to the max and high FPS, looking good and smooth. I will update with the FPS that I get on different games.The link below is a good comparison of 30 FPS vs 60 FPS. You notice it with smaller quick motions, like when the Battlefield 4 example hits the ground after a jump. It is not AS noticeable otherwise.
http://gearnuke.com/30-vs-60-fps-can-eyes-tell-difference/

I am building an AMD-based system from scratch for a total of $500, including a case and a higher-end CPU fan. I will see how well it fairs.

well i hope your next build is a bit more balanced. not that the one you have now is bad, its just relatively speaking, the i7 paired with a 7850 is kinda weak. My FX 6300+ HD 7870 could do the same at considerably cheaper, and i have an FX 8320 now + HD 7870, all games still max and ultra. you should have a good time building that new rig!

also kingwin PSUs are amongst the worst available i think, tier 5 probably. Dont cheap out on the PSU, i would advise you buy a new one from Seasonic, XFX, Antec or a good Corsair

I love my i7. I have built three machines off of them for my wife and I (The first one I sold to a co-worker so I could upgrade to a newer i7 generation). I have been very impressed at how well they have run, especially with my intense multitasking. I used to run an HD 7750, and still ran ultra settings with an i7. Although there was certainly a performance loss in comparison, it was an acceptable quality-to-performance ratio at the time. I used to go as cheap as I could on graphics, since my computer is used more for other productivity than gaming, but never again. Well, I won't go SUPER cheap on them, as a more expensive card it a bit overboard for my tastes.

I actually built a machine with that FX 6300, which is one of my mentioned bad experienced with AMD systems. It was my second experiment to compare my Intel vs. AMD. When I still had that one (Everything was matched exact with other hardware (similar but not exact motherboard, and the 6300 was using liquid cooling while the i7 was using an average-but-not-expensive-priced air cooling fan), the i7 blew my FX 6300 away with performance in my daily use, including gaming, while keeping within 10 degree temps that of the 6300. Their base specs may be similar, but the performance is not (at least, not in my experience). That is why I have stuck with the i7. I don't know where you could come out with it being "weak." I have built lesser i7 machines (older Lynnfield 2.8GHz) for other family members, and their performance has still been top-notch.

Also, yes, the HD 7870 (2GB) is going to perform better overall than the 8750 (1GB) with faster speed and higher streaming processor count. However, my current performance is more than enough, and I saved $70 bucks at the time and got Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite to boot .

As for the PSU, I only went with it because the reviews were still 4/5 on multiple sites with 25+ reviewers each. My older rigs that, I have since parted with, I had always gone with Corsair 750W or bigger. That large has really been unnecessary.This Kingwin is still performing well after over a year. I probably will not get it again though, in case I just happened to get one of those lucky good ones.

I keep hearing of other people having better experiences with AMD machines (such as users like you), which is why I am giving them another shot and going with the FX 8350 . The 5MHz difference normally would not bother me, but I decided to go bigger just in case lol. I am also building a rig with the AMD A10-7850K Kaveri 3.7GHz Socket FM2+ for my cousin, who is on a very strict budget. The reviews for the processor and built-in graphics alone and paired with another HD R7 card has some really good reviews and I thought it an interesting build, so I am experimenting with that too lol. Either way, I love putting new machines together .

yes but ultimately youre comparing apples and bananas because the FX 6300 isnt supposed to match an i7 or even come close. the FX 8320 and FX 8350 are the ones that trade blows with the i7 (using the FX 8320 right now and love it). the i7 is 3x more in cost over the FX 6300.

 

[Kesef]

I was thinking about building my own gaming PC once i get my tax check.... Well now i'm having second thoughts.

I've read countless forums from not even a year ago trying to decide what GPU to buy, and people are talking about how cheap this and that is.. Such as AMD 7950 for $200!?!?!??! Using the link provided, it took me to Newegg damn thing is $429 right now!!!! What the hell happened?

To a total noob like myself, i am quickly starting to think building a gaming PC isn't as cheap as people say. A CPU and GPU good enough to handle games at MAX settings and a few mods already put you at $500-600.... No thanks.

You really don't need that powerful of a machine to run on max settings. I put roughly $600 into building my gaming rig, and any game I have played has run smoothly and on max settings [Including but not limited to; Skyrim, Starcraft II, WoW, SWTOR, Elder Scrolls Online, Thief (2014), and more].

Graphics Card: $154 Radeon HD 7850 (1GB 256-bit GDDR5) , which has been awesome. Everything is smooth in any game. I honestly think you can go even a little cheaper ($130-ish) and still have decent performance on max settings. I decided to go bigger and spend 190 on a 2Gb 256-bit GDDR5 Radeon something, to see if there is a difference. I notice a little better FPS, but overall it runs close to what I could before. My wife runs games on max with a $99 Radeon HD 7750 (128-bit GDDR5 1GB) on max settings by her preference, but you DO notice the performance difference. It does not meet expectations for me, but for her, it is good enough. It definitely has to be turned down for online gaming. I would not suggest that cheap of a card.

Motherboard: $45 A micro-ATX, instead of a normal ATX size. This can be considerably cheaper and still provide great performance.

Memory: $42 2x4GB DDR3 RAM running @ 1600. You might not even need more than 4GB, unless you do a lot of multitasking. Going up with speeds, though, can certainly help. Do not go more than 8GB, though. That is just overkill for games and very unnecessary.

CPU: $290 Intel Core i7-4770S @ 3.1 GHz. the price difference might be $30 or more from 3.1-3.4 GHz (or higher), and you probably won't even notice the difference. I always go with Intel, because my experience has always been good. I also do a LOT of multitasking, so I went for the i7, instead of the i5. I do not have an i5 machine, so I cannot compare performance, but it is much cheaper, and you might have all that you need, depending on your uses beyond gaming. I would make sure you get the quad-core, instead of the dual core, i5 if you chose to go that route. I have not had as good of experiences with AMD systems, so I put the money into this by personal preference. You might be able to get good max-performance settings with an AMD CPU for $100 bucks less, I just won't guarantee it from my own experience.

Power Supply: $37 Kingwin 650W. This is a lower-end PSU in comparing to brand-names like Corsair or Thermaltake, but I have been using it for over a year now with no hiccups whatsoever. I feel I have gotten my money's worth, even if it died out today. Most cheap to mid-grade graphics cards don't even require higher than 500W-550W.

Storage: $23 Refurbished 250GB Western Digital 7200 RPM 8MB cache SATA 6 GB/s (I already had a 1TB 5400 drive, so I got a smaller cheaper one for a little faster speeds). You can get 1TB with the 7200 RPM and 6 GB/s for around $60 on a good deal.

CD/DVD-Rom: $15 24x DVD-R 48x CD-R. Anything better is honestly pure convenience if you watch DVD's on your machine, as most games nowadays do not even require a disk to read as you play. It might just take 10 minutes to install a large game, instead of 7 minutes lol.

Case: I just used my old mid-tower case that was running a really old rig. I have, however, put between $40-$50 into my wife's machines and it has been running just fine for 3 years without falling apart. They do are not quite as sturdy, though, so just be gentle with the cheaper cases. I would suggest looking for steel over aluminum cases.

Cooling: The case already had sufficient air cooling, and I already had a liquid cooling system, so this may be more cost to you. I would especially consider liquid cooling for your CPU. I have a cheaper one for about $50 that keeps my CPU around 45-50 degrees F that I have been using for over 3 years now. Air fans are not that expensive.

Keep note that this was not a machine that I just bought everything at once. I took my time and waited for good deals on almost every component (CPU for 289 instead of 309, and 154 instead of 179, RAM 42 instead of 65, Motherboard 45 instead of 69, for examples). These prices do also include any mail-in rebates that came besides the instant discounts. They take forever, but can make a difference in the overall price when it comes down to it. You may find only $10-$30 difference in each component, but it adds up. I also keep my eye out for refurbished parts.

When looking at graphics cards, the GB size is important, but not as important as other specs like whether it runs at 256-bit or 128-bit. The biggest thing I look for is the memory type. Get GDDR5 and NOT DDR3. No matter how big of DDR3 memory a graphics card has that I have seen, it is pale in comparison to GDDR5 with half the memory. Also compare core clock, streaming processors, effective memory clock, etc. Newegg keeps a good detail on such things.

If you have more and are willing to spend it (using my machine components about), I would put more into the motherboard and get some faster RAM. Also, that 7950 you mentioned is going for $220 with a $20 rebate from Sapphire on Newegg. It has 3GB of 384-bit GDDR5 memory. That sounds insane to me, but could be an epic choice. If you got something like that, you could most certainly go with a lesser CPU.

You really don't need a $1,000 machine to run games on max with smooth performance. If you are considered an "enthusiast," which it sounds like not, you might notice a difference. You might notice a difference in super competitive online gameplay. For those who are heavy and casual gamers, but not the elite enthusiasts, you will honestly not notice much difference between a $650 rig and a $1200 one.

As mentioned by other posts, "max settings" can be a difference in opinion. You can have everything to the max, and have lower FPS but still looks good and smooth, or have everything to the max and high FPS, looking good and smooth. I will update with the FPS that I get on different games.The link below is a good comparison of 30 FPS vs 60 FPS. You notice it with smaller quick motions, like when the Battlefield 4 example hits the ground after a jump. It is not AS noticeable otherwise.
http://gearnuke.com/30-vs-60-fps-can-eyes-tell-difference/

I am building an AMD-based system from scratch for a total of $500, including a case and a higher-end CPU fan. I will see how well it fairs.

well i hope your next build is a bit more balanced. not that the one you have now is bad, its just relatively speaking, the i7 paired with a 7850 is kinda weak. My FX 6300+ HD 7870 could do the same at considerably cheaper, and i have an FX 8320 now + HD 7870, all games still max and ultra. you should have a good time building that new rig!

also kingwin PSUs are amongst the worst available i think, tier 5 probably. Dont cheap out on the PSU, i would advise you buy a new one from Seasonic, XFX, Antec or a good Corsair

I love my i7. I have built three machines off of them for my wife and I (The first one I sold to a co-worker so I could upgrade to a newer i7 generation). I have been very impressed at how well they have run, especially with my intense multitasking. I used to run an HD 7750, and still ran ultra settings with an i7. Although there was certainly a performance loss in comparison, it was an acceptable quality-to-performance ratio at the time. I used to go as cheap as I could on graphics, since my computer is used more for other productivity than gaming, but never again. Well, I won't go SUPER cheap on them, as a more expensive card it a bit overboard for my tastes.

I actually built a machine with that FX 6300, which is one of my mentioned bad experienced with AMD systems. It was my second experiment to compare my Intel vs. AMD. When I still had that one (Everything was matched exact with other hardware (similar but not exact motherboard, and the 6300 was using liquid cooling while the i7 was using an average-but-not-expensive-priced air cooling fan), the i7 blew my FX 6300 away with performance in my daily use, including gaming, while keeping within 10 degree temps that of the 6300. Their base specs may be similar, but the performance is not (at least, not in my experience). That is why I have stuck with the i7. I don't know where you could come out with it being "weak." I have built lesser i7 machines (older Lynnfield 2.8GHz) for other family members, and their performance has still been top-notch.

Also, yes, the HD 7870 (2GB) is going to perform better overall than the 8750 (1GB) with faster speed and higher streaming processor count. However, my current performance is more than enough, and I saved $70 bucks at the time and got Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite to boot .

As for the PSU, I only went with it because the reviews were still 4/5 on multiple sites with 25+ reviewers each. My older rigs that, I have since parted with, I had always gone with Corsair 750W or bigger. That large has really been unnecessary.This Kingwin is still performing well after over a year. I probably will not get it again though, in case I just happened to get one of those lucky good ones.

I keep hearing of other people having better experiences with AMD machines (such as users like you), which is why I am giving them another shot and going with the FX 8350 . The 5MHz difference normally would not bother me, but I decided to go bigger just in case lol. I am also building a rig with the AMD A10-7850K Kaveri 3.7GHz Socket FM2+ for my cousin, who is on a very strict budget. The reviews for the processor and built-in graphics alone and paired with another HD R7 card has some really good reviews and I thought it an interesting build, so I am experimenting with that too lol. Either way, I love putting new machines together .

yes but ultimately youre comparing apples and bananas because the FX 6300 isnt supposed to match an i7 or even come close. the FX 8320 and FX 8350 are the ones that trade blows with the i7 (using the FX 8320 right now and love it). the i7 is 3x more in cost over the FX 6300.

Yes, it is thrice the cost, but also thrice the performance. You had compared the 6300 to be able to perform equal to the i7 with a little better of a graphics card, which it wouldn't. I am looking forward to getting these parts in for the FX 8350 . If it works out as well as it sounds, then I will probably be a changed man lol.

 

[kmo911]

now as skyrim can go 4k you gonna need more cpu gpu ram power. 2 years into the future we got new cpu gpu and ddr4 ram. the new gpu has new gddr5xx . the cpu has still 4 cores on a i7.6700 kbt versions.
on a gtx 960 gaming 2g version there are some lag on skyrim 4k gaming so ill be gaming with it in 800x600 on 2x 4k screens thill i get a 1070-80 gpu. still the price on 900 series are stiff her in norway. wat are about 25 (MVA) so if i choose to play in 4k on newest lga 2011 V3 i would get better peformance . no o.c needed ill just play skyrim in 2k on 2x 4k screens.
gtx 1000 series are now 2x times faster then gtx 980 ti series. so game on in a few month. www.prisguide.no gtx 1070-1080